why do you write?

so, i’ve been bugging andrea, “come on….write a little blog. readers and listeners want to know you.” she’s been at the sanibel writers conference since wednesday, teaching and learning with steve almond and leslie jamison. i called to check in, “hey, if you have time, pump out a little blog.”

she said, “i’m too busy to write a blog. you do it.”

i emailed bo, a student in class, and asked him to write the blog.  he hasn’t responded. i’m sure he doesn’t check his email on thursday or friday or saturday. maybe he’s writing a masterpiece and i’ll receive it after this blog posts…..

i texted jake, a student in season 2, and asked him why he’s in this writing class. he said, “I need an escape from my own life.” he works in real estate, a job he doesn’t love.  “This class reminds me that not too long ago, I was a teacher, a tour guide, a friend, a human being.” jake said that he was overworked and tired and not motivated to write. he responded to my text because, “The founder chick keeps hounding me.”

maybe we all need the founder chick or someone hounding us. for three hours once a week in class, i am forced to write. for homework, andrea asks us, her students, to write for 15 minutes a day. i’ve started drinking a second cup of coffee after the kids leave for school. i check the daily prompt on our website and start writing.

the last line of jake’s text said, “I am in this class to escape, grow, learn and be around people that seem to be open. I like that.”

so, this founder chick wants to know…….why do you write?